THE  ARMY  SERVICE  CORPS 
OF  THE  BRITISH  ARMY 

AND 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  TRANSPORT  AND 
TRANSPORTATION  AT  THE  FRONT  IN  FRANCE 


LECTURES  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  OFFICERS 
OF  THE  [QUARTERMASTER  [CORPS  AND  QUARTER- 
MASTER RESERVE  CORPS,  AT  WASHINGTON,  D.  C., 
ON  MAY  2 AND  MAY  9,  1917,  RESPECTIVELY 


By 

LIEUT.  COL.  F.  K.  PUCKLE,  A.  S.  C., 
BRITISH  ARMY 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1917 


. 


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• , 


^C\  0.**-  )°1  1 1 


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« 


THE  ARMY  SERVICE  CORPS  OF  THE 
BRITISH  ARMY. 

MAY  2,  1917. 


GEN.  SHARPE: 

I know  how  much  we  all  feel  indebted  to  Col.  Heron  for  his  address 
last  evening.  I think  it  may  be  a pleasure  for  you  to  know,  and  some- 
what of  a relief  for  you  all  to  be  informed,  that  Col.  Heron’s  report 
was  found,  and  the  regret  that  we  feel  in  connection  with  that  is 
that  he  wasn’t  able  to  continue  his  very  entertaining  remarks  which 
he  made  last  night,  due,  he  said,  to  the  fact  that  his  report  had  not 
been  returned  to  him.  We  hope,  however,  that  we  might  induce 
him  to  supplement  at  some  future  time  the  short  talk  which  he  gave. 

But,  seriously  speaking,  gentlemen,  we  have  had  a very  enter- 
taining account  of  the  functions  of  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Quartermaster  General  last  evening  from  Col.  Heron, 
and  I know  there  was  impressed  upon  all  very  strongly  and  very 
forcibly  particularly  his  description  of  the  group  system  of  decen- 
^ tralization,  showing  that  it  is  possible  by  the  adoption  of  that  system 

to  facilitate  the  training  of  reserve  officers. 

This  evening  we  are  going  to  be  favored  by  hearing  an  account 
from  Col.  Puckle  of  the  method  of  operation  of  the  supplies  and  trans- 
port branches  of  the  Department  of  the  Quartermaster  General. 
Gentlemen,  I have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Col.  Puckle 
of  the  Army  Service  Corps. 

COL.  PUCKLE: 

Well,  gentlemen,  we  had  better  first  arrive  at  what  the  work  is 
which  is  done  by  my  branch.  The  actual  charge  of  the  Army  Service 
Corps  concerns  Supply  and  Transport.  Transport  is  not  the  same 
organization  as  “Transportation,”  as  you  will  learn,  but  consists 
only  of  mechanical  transport,  horse  transport,  pack,  camel,  and 
such  extemporized  methods  as  come  up  from  time  to  time  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  In  France  almost  entirely  mechanical  and 
horse  transport,  and,  in  the  case  of  an  advance  when  we  tempo- 
rarily get  past  good  roads,  pack  transport  has  to  be  improvised. 
100372—17  (3) 


4 


There  is  an  organization  which  came  into  being  from  the  first  of 
December  last  year  entitled  “Transportation.”  I will  only  touch  X 
on  it  lightly.  It  embraces  the  handling  of  supplies — -both  ammu- 
nition and  supplies  proper— at  the  ports  and  docks,  and  rail  trans- 
portation and  light  rail  beyond  the  railheads.  We  will  leave  that 
alone  for  the  time  being  because  it  is  an  organization  outside  of  the 
control  of  the  Army  Service  Corps.  It  is  handled,  in  fact,  by  a 
major  general  (ex-manager  of  one  of  our  railway  systems),  aided  by 
certain  other  railway  experts,  and  a number  of  temporary  commis- 
sioned officers. 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  definition  of  the  word  “supplies”  as  under- 
stood by  us.  “Supplies”  concerns  only  the  subsistence  of  men 
and  horses;  that  is  to  say,  rations,  forage,  fuel,  and  light,  petrol 
and  oils,  disinfectants,  hospital  comforts,  and  such  local  resources 
as  can  be  obtained  in  the  country  in  the  way  of  coal,  straw,  fruit 
or  hospitals,  vegetables,  milk,  etc. 

It  might  be  instructive  to  give  you  the  strength  of  the  corps  as 
it  was  and  as  it  is.  In  peace  time  the  strength  of  the  Army  Service 
Corps  was  435  officers  and  from  10,000  to  12,000  men;  it  is  now  ap- 
proximately 10,000  officers  and  200,000  men;  that  is  nearly  double 
the  number  of  the  entire  original  expeditionary  force. 

The  subject  is  so  big  that  to-night  I propose  to  handle  Supplies 
only,  and,  if  another  opportunity  is  available,  will  deal  with  Trans- 
portation and  transport.  I will,  however,  touch  very  lightly  on 
Transport  where  relative  to  the  transportation  of  supplies — espe- 
cially in  the  field. 

There  are  now  five  expeditionary  forces.  The  greatest,  of  course, 
is  in  France  and  is  well  over  two  millions.  There  are  also  expedi- 
tionary forces  in  Egypt,  Salonika,  Messopotamia,  and  East  Africa. 

The  organization  at  home  under  the  Quartermaster  General: 

There  is  a Director  at  the  War  Office  who  combines  Supply  and  Trans- 
port, and  he  and  his  staff  handle  this  enormous  force,  or  group  of 
five  forces,  plus  the  troops  in  England.  They  also  handle  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  Army  Service  Corps.  The  original  expeditionary  force 
was  only  eight  divisions — indeed  only  six  went  over  at  first,  the 
seventh  crossed  in  October  and  the  eighth  in  November.  The  total 
strength  of  the  first  six  was  about  120,000. 

By  the  beginning  of  1915  it  was  recognized  that  the  command 
comprised  too  many  divisions  in  the  form  of  one  force.  (I  may  add 
that  there  were  also  several  territorial  divisions  which  were  in  being 
previously,  and  which  came  out  in  the  course  of  the  first  few  months 


t 


5 


^ of  the  war.)  It  was  therefore  decided  that  two  armies  be  formed. 
A third  was  formed  in  July,  1915,  and  a fourth  and  fifth  during  1916. 

So  much  for  that.  We  will  revert  to  the  organization  of  the  armies 
directly. 

f Now  re  the  War  Office:  It  arrives  at  the  supply  requirements  in 

the  several  fields,  and  the  requirements  at  home,  by  the  usual  sys- 
tem of  estimates;  the  ordinary  requirements  of  the  normal  ration  are 
known.  This  ration  had  been  laid  down  long  before  the  war  began 
and  was  arrived  at  in  consultation  with  the  Medical  Branch  of  the 
service;  thus  with  regard  to  the  standard  ration  there  is  no  necessity 
to  call  for  estimates,  as  increases  in  strength  and  decreases  due  to 
casulaties  are  modified  through  the  stock  as  a matter  of  routine; 
but  for  changes,  either  additional  abnormal  rations  or  substitutes, 
or  additional  articles  that  are  required  by  the  various  branches  of 
the  service,  the  amounts  are  arrived  at  through  calling  for  estimates 
which  are  sent  in  due  course  to  England  from  France  through  a 
system  of  correspondence  called  the  “nightly  letter” — a very  useful 
innovation  of  this  war.  The  “nightly  letter”  is  sent  by  the  direc- 
torate in  France  and  comprises  what  would  in  the  ordinary  course 
take  perhaps  20  to  30  separate  letters;  that  is  to  say,  each  paragraph 
in  this  letter  deals  with  one  of  the  various  points  either  already  under 
discussion  or  the  new  ones  raised  from  day  to  day. 

Supplies  are  collected  in  bulk  in  England  and  from  abroad  by  the 
usual  system  of  agents,  purchasing  organizations,  and  boards.  It  is 
very  much  the  same  system  that  obtains  in  peace.  Contracts  are 
i put  through  the  Contract  Branch  at  the  War  Office,  so  that  particular 
labor  is  taken  off  the  hands  of  the  A.  S.  C.  in  the  various  commands 
and  districts. 

The  personnel  office  I have  mentioned  before.  The  dispatching 
supply  depots  in  England  are  scattered  round  the  ports  of  the  coun- 
try; the  main  one  in  the  south  is  Newhaven. 

Now,  we  will  go  on  to  the  organization  in  France,  which  concerns 
us  more  closely. 

At  General  Headquarters,  which  we  will  refer  to  as  G.  FI.  Q.,  there 
is  the  Quartermaster  General  of  the  Army  in  France,  who  has  equal 
jurisdiction  there  as  the  Quartermaster  General  at  the  War  Office  has 
over  all  the  expeditionary  forces  in  the  field  and  at  home.  Under 
him  is  a Director  of  Supplies  and  a Director  of  Transport.  To-night 
we  are  speaking  of  the  supply  directorate  only . The  D . of  S . has  under 
him  a Deputy  Director,  Assistant  Director,  and  Deputy  Assistant 
^ Director.  The  Director  himself  is  the  right  hand  of  the  Quartermaster 

General  on  supply  services;  his  deputy  carries  out  the  office  routine 


l 


6 


and  enables  his  chief  to  attend  conferences,  and  do  as  much  inspect- 
ing and  traveling  about  the  country  as  time  will  • permit.  The 
Assistant  Director  is  more  particularly  concerned  with  what  we  term 
“provision,”  i.  e.,  the  actual  routine  work  of  watching  the  supply 
situation,  brigading  the  demands  of  the  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try as  they  come  in  and  embodying  them  in  the  “nightly  letter”  to 
England.  The  Deputy  Assistant  Director  is  concerned  with  personnel 
almost  entirely. 

For  the  first  year  or  so  of  the  war  we  had  one  line  of  communica- 
tions only.  As  far  as  the  number  of  ports  was  concerned,  and  the 
area  covered  by  this  line  of  communications,  it  has  not  varied  much 
to  this  day.  However,  the  strength  of  each  army  and  the  number 
of  troops  on  the  line  of  communications  increased  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  was  recognized  that  one  man  could  not  handle  this  vast 
organization  and  it  was  divided  into  two  parts,  the  northern  and  the 
southern  line.  The  northern  line  runs  from  the  front  back  to 
Boulogne  and  Calais — Dunkirk  is  subsidiary  thereto;  the  southern 
line  to  Havre  and  Rouen  with  Dieppe  subsidiary.  There  is  a Supply 
Directorate  on  each  of  these.  The  functions  of  Deputy  Director, 
Assistant  Director,  and  Deputy  Assistant  Director  are,  in  propor- 
tion, similar  to  those  in  the  office  of  the  D.  of  S.  at  G.  H.  Q. 
At  each  of  the  four  main  bases  (Havre,  Rouen,  Boulogne,  and 
Calais)  there  is  an  Assistant  Director  of  Supplies.  It  is  his  duty  to 
watch  the  supply  situation  and  to  coordinate  the  supply  services  of 
the  base  with  the  requirements  of  the  Base  Commandant  and  the 
French. 

The  Base  Commandant  is  in  executive  command  of  the  base  and 
has  also  to  supervise  all  the  various  administrative  services.  He  is 
the  ‘ ‘ go-between  ’ ’ of  the  French  authorities  and  ourselves,  so  that  any 
necessary  development  in  construction,  railway  facilities  which  are 
being  refused,  difficulties  of  any  kind,  sort,  or  description  are  all 
dealt  with  by  him  in  conjunction  with  the  Directorate  of  the  ad- 
ministrative branch  concerned. 

Re  the  Base  Supply  Depots:  There  is  a large  depot  at  each  of  the 
above-mentioned  ports.  These  depots  used  to  be  each  one  com- 
plete in  itself  with  every  class  of  supplies,  but  it  was  found  as  the 
number  of  troops  increased  in  France  that  the  available  area  at  the 
base  depots  was  not  sufficient,  and  it  thus  became  necessary  to 
establish  advanced  bases. 

The  supplies  are  now  sent  up  in  bulk  from  the  ships  to  the  advance 
bases,  with  the  exception  of  forage,  bread  and  meat,  petrol,  and 


7 


oils.  These  are  loaded  at  the  base  in  detail  according  to  requires 
ments  of  formations.  All  other  supplies  are  sent  up  in  bulk  train- 
to  the  advance  bases. 

At  the  advance  bases  the  number  of  days’  reserve  for  the  whole  of 
the  troops  based  thereon  used  to  be,  and  no  doubt  is  yet,  21  days  of 
supplies  and  12  days’  forage.  A record  is  maintained  in  the  L.  of 
C.  office  concerned,  which  is  made  up  every  night  from  the  wires 
which  come  in  from  the  bases,  showing  the  number  of  days’  supplies 
on  hand.  This  is  bulked  and  repeated  to  the  Director  of  Supplies 
at  General  Headquarters.  The  bases  arrive  at  their  holding  by  tak- 
ing stock  every  night.  There  is  no  necessity,  of  course,  to  take  stock 
of  stacks  that  are  not  being  touched,  but  only  of  all  stacks  in  course 
of  issue  and  receipt.  There  is  at  each  depot  an  outside  superin- 
tendent and  an  officer  in  charge  of  the  office  work.  The  latter  is 
called  the  Officer  in  Charge  of  Supplies. 

The  outside  Superintendent  gets  his  demands  from  the  office;  the 
supplies  are  loaded  on  the  supply  railway  trains  and  tallied  on  a 
most  exhaustive  system  to  avoid  any  possibility  of  mistakes  in  load- 
ing to  go  up  country.  Similarly  with  regard  to  supplies  received 
ex  ship.  The  result  of  this  is  totaled  up,  deducted  from  the  actual 
“remain  ” of  the  previous  night,  and  stock  taken;  the  new  “remain” 
is  then  reported  at  nightfall  to  the  supply  office.  The  supply  office 
has  in  turn  made  up  the  paper  remain  from  the  manifests  received 
in  the  course  of  the  day  from  the  several  ships  and  the  issues  to  the 
front.  The  paper  remain  and  the  ground  stock,  or  actual  remain, 
should  of  course  agree.  If  they  do  not,  you  arrive  at  the  error  each 
night,  and  it  can  be  readily  adjusted  at  once. 

These  trains  that  we  said  were  loaded  in  bulk  at  the  bases  are  sent 
up  to  the  advanced  bases.  Certain  supplies  in  these  loads  will  be 
sent  forward  to  the  troops  as  being  required  in  complete  truck  loads 
and  therefore  will  not  require  re-sorting.  Others  which  it  won’t  be 
necessary  to  send  a whole  truck  load  of  to  any  one  division,  like  salt, 
pepper,  or  small  items,  will  be  taken  into  stock  and  the  balance  of 
the  space  will  be  filled  up  with  other  supplies  and  the  truck  load 
completed,  sealed,  labeled,  and  sent  off  to  the  regulating  station 
where  the  trains  are  marshaled  and  made  up  for  the  various  forma- 
tions concerned.  To  each  formation  or  “section”  train  (the  forma- 
tion for  the  purposes  of  supply  is  a division,  but  when  they  become 
very  strong  corps  troops  may  also  be  allotted  a section  train  all  to 
themselves)  is  allotted  a number.  Wherever  that  division  goes 
throughout  France  that  section  train  goes  to  it.  The  contents  of 
the  train  may  not  be  entirely  for  that  division;  some  portion  may  be 


8 


too  much  or  perhaps  too  little,  and  how  these  are  adjusted  we  will 
arrive  at  directly.  The  trucks  are  all  sealed,  and  waybills  showing 
the  pack  go  with  the  train.  Two  section  trains  as  a rule  are  pulled 
by  one  engine.  The  section  train  is  from  14  to  16  trucks,  and  a loco- 
motive will  easily  take  35  or  36. 

The  regulating  station  is  a place  usually  in  close  proximity  to  the 
advance  base.  It  is  a big  collection  of  railway  lines  where  this  great 
array  of  trucks  is  collected  from  the  advance  base  and  other  points, 
and  where  they  are  sorted  out  according  to  their  labels  into  the  several 
sections  and  the  trains  completed  and  despatched  to  the  front. 

The  local  resources  of  the  country  as  a whole — that  is,  more  par- 
ticularly from  the  point  of  view  of  the  line  of  communications — are 
handled  directly  under  the  Director  of  Supplies  at  General  Headquar- 
ters by  means  of  certain  purchase  boards  and  representatives  that  we 
have  throughout  the  country.  Practically  the  whole  resources  of 
the  country  are  required  by  the  French  Army.  Of  coal  we  get  the 
whole  of  our  requirements,  but  we  have  to  return  it  to  the  French 
from  England  by  ship. 

We  now  come  to  the  armies . The  head  of  the  Army  Service  Corps  in 
an  army  is  entitled  the  ‘ ‘ Deputy  Director  of  Supplies  and  Transport.’  ’ 
He  has  under  him  a Deputy  Assistant  Director  of  Supplies  and  a similar 
appointment  for  Transport.  We  have  no  representatives  either  of 
the  Supply  or  Transport  Directorates  with  corps  or  with  divisions. 
An  army  might  have  six  corps  and  a corps  six  divisions.  However, 
we  have  with  each  division  an  organization  entitled  “the  divisional 
train”;  it  comprises  the  supply  section  and  baggage  section  of  your 
regimental  transport.  It  is  entirely  an  Army  Service  Corps  unit  com- 
manded by  a lieutenant  colonel  and  some  26  officers  under  him.  The 
O . C . train  is  the  Senior  Horse  Transport  Officer  of  the  division . There 
is  in  the  train  the  Senior  Supply  Officer.  As  his  name  implies,  this 
officer  is  in  charge  of  all  supply  services  in  the  division  and  repre- 
sents the  Supply  Directorate  with  the  division.  The  Supply  Direc- 
torate is  represented  at  each  supply  railhead  by  the  Railhead  Supply 
Officer.  He  is  usually  quite  a junior  officer,  a subaltern,  sometimes  a 
captain,  but  his  duties  are  very  responsible  and  he  should  be  very 
carefully  selected.  All  supplies  pass  through  him  en  route  to  the 
troops  and  he  has  to  decide  on  the  many  daily  conundrums  and  take 
the  responsibility  in  the  absence  of  or  pending  covering  authority 
from  army  headquarters. 

I had  better  touch  on  the  “ Q ” staff  of  the  army;  that  is  to  say,  the 
direct  representatives  of  the  Quartermaster  General  on  the  staff. 
You  must  know  that  these  directorates  of  supplies,  transport,  ord- 


9 


nance,  remounts,  etc.,  are  not  staff  officers;  they  are  administra- 
tive staff  officers.  The  “ Q ” staff  is  headed  in  an  army  by  the  D.  A. 
and  Q.  M.  G.,  that  is,  the  Deputy  Adjutant  and  Deputy  Quarter- 
master Generai.  He  brigades  both  the  “A”  and  the  “Q”  duties  in 

* that  instance.  Similarly  in  a corps,  the  chief  “Q”  officer  is  entitled 
the  “Deputy  Adjutant  and  Deputy  Quartermaster  General.”  In 
the  case  of  the  army  he  is  a major  general  and  in  the  case  of  the  corps 
a brigadier.  When  you  come  to  the  division  you  have  an  A.  A.  and 
Q.  M.  G.,  Assistant  Adjutant  and  Quartermaster  General.  He  is  a 
lieutenant  colonel.  Under  him  is  a D.  A.  A.,  Q.  M.  G.,  and  a D.  A. 
Q.  M.  G.  This  last  appears  to  correspond  to  your  division  quarter- 
master. These  “Q”  officers  are  concerned  with  all  administrative 
services,  and  so  if  units  are  not  able  to  obtain  that  which  they  re- 
quire direct  from  these  administrative  branches  the  questions  are 
referred  to  higher  authority  through  the  “Q”  staff  of  the  formation 
concerned. 

Not  only  the  Supply  Directorate  but  all  other  administrative 
branches  look  to  the  “Q”  staff  to  be  the  mouthpiece  of  the  General 
Staff.  The  General  Staff  rarely  deal  direct  with  the  administrative 
services.  ‘ £ Q ” should  invariably  take  steps  to  insure  that  all  tactical 
or  even  strategical  moves  that  may  be  imminent  are  notified  to  the 
p administrative  branches  concerned  in  good  time.  I wish  to  strongly 

impress  upon  you  all  how  urgent  we  have  found  this  need  of  being 
duly  informed  in  good  and  sufficient  time  of  impending  moves. 
The  unnecessary  strain  thrown  on  the  administrative  services  through 

* failure  to  give  such  intimation  is  perhaps  not  realized  in  many 
instances  by  the  general  staff. 

Rations  and  forage,  etc.,  how  they  get  to  the  troops:  There  is  a 
system  called  the  standard  pack  of  a section  train,  which  presupposes 
that  a division  is  normally  20,000  men  and  5,800  horses  strong. 
This  pack  comprises  the  rations  according  to  scale,  together  with 
all  the  extras,  such  as  coke  and  charcoal  for  trenches,  bran,  disin- 
fectants, petrol  and  oils,  etc.  In  the  absence  of  any  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  strength  of  the  division,  and  it  being  supposed 
that  they  are  approximately  at  full  strength,  the  Deputy  Assistant 
Director  of  Supplies  of  the  army  concerned — that  is  the  appointment 
that  I held  while  with  the  first  army — would  demand  on  the  base 
for  a standard  pack  to  be  sent  for  such  and  such  a section  number 
and  to  arrive  railhead  first  time  on  such  a date.  Normally  it  takes 
three  days,  inclusive,  from  the  date  of  demand  to  date  of  arrival  at 
f railhead.  We  arrive  at  the  requirements  of  two  days  ahead  or 

three  days  ahead,  as  the  case  may  be,  by  means  of  the  railhead 
103372—17 — 2 


10 


supply  officer.  We  are,  of  course,  aware  of  what  arrived  at  railhead 
yesterday.  Overnight  there  will  arrive  from  the  several  railhead 
supply  officers  (possibly  there  are  12  railheads  in  an  army  area) 
“remains”  wires  showing  what  supplies  they  have  on  hand  on  their 
railhead  dumps  and  also  showing  any  changes  in  strength  which  \ 

are  imminent.  The  R.  S.  0.  has  perhaps  heard  that  a brigade  is 
going  away,  two  batteries  are  going  to  change  position,  and  so  on 
and  so  forth,  and  he  informs  me  of  these  changes  and  we  demand  on 
the  base  accordingly.  The  wire  goes  out,  say,  for  section  so  and  so 
to  be  reduced  by  so  much  or  increased  by  so  much,  or  send  such 
and  such  to  railhead  so  many  loadings. 

Let  us  take  a Monday.  On  Monday  the  supplies  that  arrive  at  a 
railhead  will  be  consumed  by  the  troops  on  Wednesday.  That  is, 
the  divisional  supply  column  (M.  T.)  will  draw  them  from  the  rail- 
head on  Monday  and  on  Tuesday  morning  proceed  to  the  refilling 
point  where  they  meet  the  divisional  train  which  comprises  all  the 
horsed  transport  for  baggage  and  supplies  that  you  have  with  your 
regiments.  There  the  divisional  train  takes  on  the  supplies  and  pro- 
ceeds at  once  to  the  divisional  area  and  hands  over  to  the  cookers  or 
to  the  battalion  quartermaster’s  stores;  there  it  stays  for  the  night 
and  is  consumed  by  the  troops  on  Wednesday. 

The  divisional  train  is  organized  in  four  parts.  It  comprises  four 
Army  Service  Corps  horse  transport  companies.  There  is  one  for 
divisional  troops  and  one  for  each  brigade.  In  the  case  of  cavalry 
there  is  no  divisional  train,  but  the  supply  column  is  double  the  size, 
works  in  two  echelons,  and  delivers  direct  to  the  units.  It  consists  ? 

of  30  hundredweight  lorries  instead  of  3 ton  as  is  the  case  in  a divisional 
supply  column. 

Each  railhead  has  a small  dump  of  anything  up  to  10,000  rations. 

This  small  amount  fluctuates  each  day.  There  is  also  a small  amount 
of  forage,  petrol,  and  oils.  Occasionally  sufficient  supplies  do  not 
arrive  from  the  base,  from  one  cause  or  another.  There,  however, 
exist  in  each  army  area  field  supply  depots,  usually  two  to  each  army. 

In  such  a case  the  railhead  supply  officer  will  give  the  troops  a de- 
mand note  on  the  nearest  of  these  depots. 

These  field  depots  hold  three  days’  supplies;  that  is,  two  days’  of 
ordinary  rations  and  one  day  of  iron  rations  (an  iron  ration  consists  of 
bully  beef,  biscuit,  tea,  and  sugar,  in  a compact  form  easily  carried) ; 
also  two  days’  forage  and  some  five  or  six  days’  petrol  and  a corre- 
sponding amount  of  oils  required  by  mechanical  transport  and  guns; 
also  hospital  comforts.  In  advance  of  these  field  supply  depots, 
ihere  are  what  are  called  advanced  posts,  keeps,  and  general  purpose 


dumps.  Each  corps  may  hold  a total  of  50,000  iron  rations  for  these 
dumps.  They  need  not  have  these  but  should  they  desire  they  may 
draw  them. 

The  distance  of  the  railhead  from  the  fighting  line  varies  from  3 
miles  to  10  miles  at  the  most,  aud  the  one  or  two  so  far  back  as  10 
miles  would  be  used  only  by  army  headquarters  and  by  divisions  in 
rest.  When  active  operations  are  contemplated,  it  is  usual  to  form 
special  war  dumps.  These  are  also  temporary  field  supply  depots 
under  A.  S.  C.  administration  but  established  yet  farther  to  the  front. 
The  field  supply  depots  in  my  army  were  each  5 miles  behind  the 
line.  That  was  considered  far  forward.  In  other  armies  there  are 
field  depots  as  much  as  15  miles  back,  and  you  can  readily  see  that 
a field  supply  depot  8 or  9 miles  behind  railhead  is  of  very  little  value. 

Each  division  has  a salvage  system — a salvage  company — and  they, 
in  addition  to  collecting  supplies  from  the  field  of  battle  and  from 
evacuated  billets,  also  collect  machine  guns,  rifles,  and  all  nature 
of  equipment  referred  to  by  Col.  Heron  in  his  lecture  last  night. 
Those  supplies  that  are  bad  -are  condemned  and  destroyed;  those 
that  are  good  are  issued  to  the  nearest  unit  and  that  amount  is  under- 
drawn from  railhead  in  due  course. 

I should  mention  the  actual  system  by  which  the  troops  obtain 
rations.  The  demand  is  on  an  army  form  presented  at  the  refilling 
point  by  the  quartermaster  or  other  representative  of  the  unit  to  the 
B.  S.  O.,  who  consolidates  and  demands  on  the  S.  S.  O.;  these  sup- 
plies are  for  two  days  in  advance.  The  units’  demand  and  the 
B.  S.  O.’s  demand  are  both  in  duplicate,  and  the  brigade  supply 
officers,  of  which  there  is  one  to  each  section  of  the  divisional  train, 
each  hand  over  one  copy  of  these  demands  to  the  Senior  Supply 
Officer,  who  consolidates  and  takes  it  to  the  railhead. 

The  accounting  for  supplies  is  a somewhat  intricate  affair  with  us. 
At  the  base  we  have  a tremendous  organization  which  traces  every 
ration  and  which  was  begotten  of  much  trouble  that  we  went  through 
after  the  South  African  War  through  lack  of  due  records.  When  an 
advance  takes  place,  a considerable  amount  of  this  accounting  is 
eliminated  for  the  time. 

Although  the  account  I have  given  is  extraordinarily  superficial, 
it  will  yet  serve  to  show  you  something  of  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
which  falls  to  the  A.  S.  C as  regards  supplies. 

Decentralization  is  imperative,  both  on  account  of  the  size  of  the 
forces  engaged  and  the  area  covered. 

With  the  exception  of  the  item  of  the  divisional  train,  in  which 
we  appear  to  centralize  more  than  you  do,  the  Supply  Directorate 
finds  it  necessary  as  a whole  to  decentralize,  and  particularly  to  give 


12 


the  armies  a free  hand.  They  are  so  large — the  first  army  when  I 
left  it  was  over  400,000  strong  and  over  100,000  horses — that  the 
small  directorate  of  three  who  administrate  the  supply  and  transport 
services  must  be  given  a free  hand  by  General  Headquarters.  As  re- 
gards inspection,  the  Director  himself  can  for  the  most  part  do  but 
little  more  than  pay  visits  on  the  line  of  communications  on  account 
of  the  size  of  the  country;  yet  it  is  highly  desirable  for  the  directing 
heads  to  be  in  close  touch  with  conditions  at  the  front,  lest  consid- 
erations of  economy  be  given  precedence  over  those  of  expediency. 
Another  thing  we  have  found  in  the  handling  of  this  large  national 
army — most  of  whom  were  civilians  yesterday — was  that  the  per- 
sonal equation  has  to  be  studied  much  more  closely  by  the  small 
nucleus  of  regular  officers  who  form  the  staff  than  is  customary  in 
times  of  peace  and  when  working  with  regular  troops.  I have  also 
had  to  impress  this  on  temporary  officers  who  in  the  course  of  the 
war  have  risen  to  comparatively  responsible  posts.  I have  had  to 
point  out  to  them  that  though  it  is  a fact  that  the  officer  with  what  is 
known  as  a bad  manner  is  too  often  the  one  that  flourishes  like  a green 
bay  tree  in  times  of  peace,  yet,  with  the  present  conditions  and  ma- 
terial, that  sort  of  thing  will  never  obtain  the  best  results.  A judi- 
cious appreciation  of  merit  will  work  wonders  with  a man  who  has 
given  up  his  all  to  serve  his  country  and  who  is  really  doing  his  best, 
although  possibly  making  trifling  mistakes  through  ignorance. 

In  the  lecture  by  the  Quartermaster  General  given  on  the  3d  of 
April,  which  I have  just  had  the  pleasure  of  reading,  he  at  the 
conclusion  quotes  a motto  by  Lord  Bacon  which  reminds  me  of  a 
similar  charge  once  given  by  Sir  William  Robertson,  our  chief  of 
staff,  when  he  was  commandant  of  our  Staff  College,  and  which  is 
especially  applicable  to  those  officers  not  yet  commissioned  who 
will  later  be  required  to  augment  the  strength  of  the  Quartermaster 
Corps  and  who  will  often  be  serving  far  from  the  superior  officer 
who  sends  them  orders.  I have  had  to  instill  the  same  principle  so 
often  that  it  is  possible  you  may  also  find  the  same  need  later  with 
your  new  armies. 

Gen.  Robertson  took  as  his  text  the  word  1 1 Loyalty. ’ ’ He  empha- 
sized the  essential  quality  in  a junior  officer  as  being  loyalty  to  his 
chief,  both  in  the  letter  and  in  the  spirit,  even  though  his  personal 
opinion  might  run  counter  to  the  orders  received.  He  said  that 
the  junior  should  always  remember  that  his  superior  was  in  posses- 
sion of  facts  of  which  he  could  have  no  knowledge,  had  greater 
experience,  and  was  in  the  last  resort  responsible  for  the  orders 
issued.  No  comprehensive  scheme  can  be  successfully  carried 
out  without  this  implicit  obedience  and  loyal  service  on  the  part 


13 


of  the  junior  officers  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  many  parts 

* of  the  whole  plan  of  operations. 

I thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  your  patient  hearing. 

GEN.  SHARPE: 

■*  Gentlemen,  I am  sure  that  we  are  very  much  indebted  to  Col. 

Puckle  for  his  most  instructive  address,  and,  as  far  as  the  reserve 
officers  are  concerned,  I hope  you  followed  the  appeal  that  I made 
to  you  on  the  occasion  of  our  first  meeting  down  here  when  I urged 
upon  you  to  study  carefully  your  Field  Service  Regulations  and 
Tables  of  Organization.  By  doing  that  I imagine  you  have  been 
able  to  handle  such  a problem  as  the  colonel  has  presented  the  out- 
line and  solution  to  us. 

In  1888  I happened  to  be  in  London,  and  endeavored  to  get  in 
touch  with  the  War  Office  at  that  time  in  order  to  find  out  some  new 
information  in  regard  to  a new  organization  just  started  the  preceding 
year  in  the  British  Army,  known  as  the  Army  Service  Corps.  I was 
not  able  at  that  time  to  get  this  information,  although  I obtained 
several  books  on  the  subject  and  endeavored  to  study  the  matter. 
My  attention  was  directed  to  the  workings  of  that  corps  in  the  reports 
of  the  Boer  War  and  the  various  campaigns  preceding  the  Boer  War, 
and  in  1907  I was  able  to  make  a study  of  the  organization  of  the 
Department  of  the  Quartermaster  General  and  also  to  visit  Paris  and 
Berlin,  making  a comparative  study  of  the  three  different  meth- 
ods of  supply  in  vogue  in  those  armies. 

After  returning  to  London  at  the  conclusion  of  those  visits,  it  was 

* my  good  fortune  to  be  asked  to  dine  with  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  and  the 
question  of  the  organization  of  the  French  and  German  Armies  was 
discussed  with  several  of  the  most  eminent  military  critics  in  London, 
and  I recall  with  a great  deal  of  pleasure  how,  after  discussing  the 
French  and  the  German  organizations,  I turned  to  Sir  Charles  and 
said:  “You  have  a magnificent  organization  here  in  your  own 
army.”  He  looked  ’with  a little  surprise,  and  I said:  “We  some- 
times loose  sight  of  near-by  objects  in  looking  out  into  the  distance. 
You  have  a number  of  competent  and  able  officers  who  will  meet 
any  emergency  which  is  presented  to  them  in  a most  efficient  man- 
ner.” He  said  he  was  gratified  to  know  that,  and  I am  sure  if  he 
were  alive  he  would  agree  with  me  in  what  I told  him. 

Gentlemen,  I know  you  all  unite  with  me  in  most  hearty  thanks 
to  Col.  Puckle  for  his  most  entertaining  description  of  the  methods 
of  handling  the  problem  of  supply  in  the  great  army  abroad  to-day. 

Thank  you,  gentlemen. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  TRANSPORT 
AND  TRANSPORTATION  AT  THE  FRONT 
IN  FRANCE. 

MAY  9,  1917. 


Gen.  Sharpe.  It  is  a great  pleasure,  gentlemen,  to  be  able  to  have 
had  Col.  Puckle  address  us  the  other  evening  on  supplies,  and,  as  he 
promised,  he  will  tonight  continue  his  description  of  the  organization 
and  administration  of  the  transport  and  transportation  at  the  front 
in  France. 

I have  the  pleasure,  gentlemen,  of  introducing  Col.  Puckle. 

Col.  Puckle.  Good  evening,  gentlemen. 

I think  it  will  be  better  to  refer  to  the  question  of  transportation 
first  and  to  transport  thereafter. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

Transportation  with  us  in  France  concerns  the  docks,  maintenance 
of  permanent  ways,  rolling  stock,  and  the  construction  and  main- 
tenance of  roads,  and  light  railway  beyond  railheads. 

The  necessity  for  this  organization  entitled  “Transportation” 
came  about  through  the  fact  that  the  French  railways  were  getting 
in  a very  bad  state  toward  the  end  of  191'6.  The  French  had  not 
anticipated  the  war  lasting  the  length  of  time  that  it  has,  and  added 
to  that  was  the  fact  that  they  had  lost  some  50,000  railway  trucks 
during  the  retreat;  also  their  locomotives  were  breaking  down 
through  the  tremendous  strain  thrown  upon  them,  and  the  permanent 
ways  were  getting  into  bad  condition  for  the  same  reason.  In  that 
connection,  the  construction  of  the  railway  system,  and  the  layout 
of  the  same,  from  the  strategical  point  of  view  previous  to  war,  was 
based  on  the  supposition  that  they  would  be  fighting  at  least  on  their 
own  frontier  and  that  they  would  not  be  compelled  to  take  a position 
well  in  rear  of  the  frontier  as  is  the  case.  Consequently  the  layout  of 
the  railways  with  a main  line  running  parallel  to  the  frontier  is  to-day 
in  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  and  we  are  compelled,  and  the  French 
also,  to  rely  on  a system  of  railways  in  rear  of  this  organization  which 
was  not  intended , and  was  not  constructed , to  stand  this  very  heavy 
strain. 


(15) 


16 


Well,  these  facts  were  perfectly  well  known  to  the  administration 
which  handled  the  railways  in  conjunction  with  the  French  railway 
authorities  during  the  first  two  years  of  the  war  (i.  e.  the  Royal 
Engineers),  and  the  increasing  deterioration  of  lines  and  rolling 
stock  was  repeatedly  brought  to  notice  by  the  Director  of  Railway 
Transport,  with  no  result. 

In  December,  1916,  Sir  Erie  Geddes,  who  was  manager  of  one  of 
our  railway  systems  and  who  had  been  the  right  hand  of  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  when  the  latter  was  minister  of  munitions,  was  appointed 
Director  of  Transportation  in  France,  with  absolute  powers  except 
that  he  must  consult  with  the  C.  in  C.  and  with  the  Q.  M.  G.  It 
would  have  been  interesting  to  observe  whether  the  R.  E.  would 
not  have  done  equally  well  had  they  had  the  same  backing  and 
financial  support  that  Transportation  has. 

I said  that  Transportation  handles  the  docks.  That  means  not  the 
docks  from  the  naval  point  of  view,  but  the  supplies,  both  ammu- 
nition and  subsistence,  as  they  arrive  from  England.  Transporta- 
tion unloads  them  and  hands  them  over  on  the  beach  to  the  Ordnance 
for  ammunition  and  to  the  A.  S.  C.  for  supplies.  From  there  the 
stores  go  into  transit  sheds  and  so  to  the  railway  and  to  the  advanced 
bases. 

THE  RAILWAYS  WE  TOUCHED  ON. 

Light  railways. — We  are  very  behindhand  in  the  construction  of 
light  railways.  The  Germans  use  them  almost  entirely  for  trans- 
port instead  of  making  use  of  roads,  and  that  fact  is  borne  out  by  the 
excellent  condition  in  which  the  roads  are  in  the  areas  we  have 
taken  (when  past  the  shell  area).  I don’t  say  they  do  not  possess 
transport  organizations,  mechanical  and  horse,  such  as  we  do,  but 
they  use  them  as  little  as  may  be  and  rely  upon  light  railways.  The 
French  are  nearly  in  as  good  a position  in  that  respect.  We  are  far 
behind  both,  but  are  starting  to  catch  up,  and  no  doubt  will  get 
into  line,  as  we  usually  do. 

The  relation  between  the  Transport  Directorate  and  the  Transportation 
Directorate. — The  Transport  Directorate  is  organized  in  the  same 
manner  as  is  the  Supply  Directorate  referred  to  in  my  previous 
lecture  ; that  is,  it  is  brigaded  with  supply  at  the  War  Office,  but  in 
France  there  is  a Director  of  Transport  as  there  is  a Director  of  Sup- 
plies: he  has  a Deputy  Director  in  his  office  at  G.  H.  Q.  and  on  each 
of  the  lines  of  communication;  also  there  is  the  Deputy  Director  of 
Supplies  and  Transport  with  each  army.  The  Transportation  Di- 
rectorate is  organized  like  any  other  directorate.  Its  functions  are 
distinct  from  those  of  Transport. 


< 


17 


There  is  a close  relation  between  the  Director  of  Supplies  and  the 
Director  of  Transportation . Transportation  administers  the  railways . 
When  moves  are  imminent  it  is  therefore  necessary  that  the  general 
staff  should  inform  the  “Q”  staff,  and  the  “Q”  staff  the  admin- 
istrative branches  concerned,  of  date,  army  to  which  transferred, 
and  divisional  number  of  the  formations  concerned.  The  Supply 
Directorate  in  the  army,  having  been  duly  informed  that  such  and 
such  divisions  will  be  moved  from  his  army  to  another,  will  notify 
the  D.  of  S.  at  G.  H.  Q.,  who  confers  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Trans- 
portation Directorate,  and  the  section  trains  are  arranged  to  the 
various  railheads.  Also  the  necessary  arrangements  are  gone  into 
to  transfer  the  feeding  of  this  division  or  divisions  from  one  base  to 
another  and  possibly  from  one  line  of  communications  to  another, 
according  to  the  extent  of  the  move. 

It  is  imperative,  or  at  least  highly  desirable,  that  sufficient  notice 
should  be  given  to  the  administrative  branches  concerned,  par- 
ticularly the  Supply  Directorate,  who  are  responsible  of  course  for 
the  feeding  of  these  troops.  Sufficient  notice  of  these  impending 
moves  is  required  so  that  the  bases  concerned  can  be  informed  and 
the  supply  trains  loaded  and  arrive  at  the  new  railheads  in  time. 
In  the  event  of  sufficient  notice  not  being  given  there  are  two  alter- 
natives by  which  the  troops  can  be  fed.  The  new  army  to  which  the 
division  is  going  can  issue  from  one  of  the  field  supply  depots  in  the 
interim  and  vice  versa  with  the  relieving  division,  or  each  division 
can  and  occasionally  has  to  draw  from  the  other’s  section  train  for  a 
day  or  two  till  the  base  can  be  changed.  When  one  division  goes 
to  another  army,  normally  spealdng,  a corresponding  division  comes 
back.  That  is  to  say,  they  are  sending  down  a fresh  division  which 
has  been  rested  to  relieve  a tired  division  which  has  had  a hard  time 
in  the  trenches.  However,  the  movement  of  troops  is  now  so  well 
understood  that  you  will  no  doubt  find  when  you  get  over  that 
there  is  no  hitch  at  all  and  that  you  will  arrive  at  a new  railhead 
you  never  heard  of  before  and  your  section  train  will  be  there  for  you 
just  as  usual. 

I think  that  is  sufficient  concerning  transportation,  although  I 
have  not  dealt  with  their  constructional  functions  as  regards  roads 
and  railways. 

TRANSPORT. 

I described  the  line  of  communications  to  you  the  other  night, 
also  the  meaning  of  what  we  infer  by  the  word  “ transport  ’’—that  is 
to  say,  mechanical  transport,  horse  transport,  and  pack. 


18 


The  organization  of  transport,  and  the  system  whereby  the  de- 
mands of  the  troops  are  met  by  the  war  office  in  the  first  instance, 
are  on  the  principle  of  the  “ nightly  letter,”  which  I referred  to  in 
lecture  on  supplies. 

The  raison  d’etre  of  transport  is  sometimes  misunderstood.  The 
Transport  Branch  is  occasionally  under  the  delusion  that  all  the 
world  is  their  servant,  whereas  the  actual  fact  is  that  they  are  the 
servant  of  all  the  world  and  they  exist  for  the  carriage  of  supplies, 
ammunition,  and  maintenance  of  all  kinds,  and  have  no  other  pur- 
pose. It  is  on  their  personal  devotion  and  the  exact  and  conscien- 
tious performance  of  their  duties,  in  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter, 
that  the  general  success  of  operations  depend.  A good  transport 
officer  can  rarely  hope  to  be  a popular  individual.  He  has  un- 
fortunately very  often  to  say  “no,”  as  the  troops  will  always  be  ex- 
travagant in  the  use  of  the  transport  unless  checked. 

However,  with  the  exercise  of  tact  and  study  of  the  personal 
equation,  it  is  yet  possible  for  a transport  officer  to  be  popular,  not- 
withstanding the  perfect  performance  of  his  duty. 

Of  the  several  kinds  of  transport,  mechanical  transport  is  a spe- 
cialty in  the  A.  S.  C.  In  peace  time  the  whole  of  the  officers  in 
the  A.  S.  0.  are  interchangeable  between  supply  and  transport 
(horse)  duties.  With  regard  to  mechanical  transport,  only  say  60 
per  cent  of  our  peace  strength  in  officers  were  qualified.  However, 
no  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  obtaining  reinforcements.  In 
addition,  we  have  a branch  entitled  the  Inspection  Branch  (M.  T.) 
who  are  perpetually  traveling  up  and  down  the  country  and  in- 
specting units,  workshops,  etc.  We  rely  upon  their  reports  to  en- 
able us  to  keep  this  mechanical  transport  force  in  a state  of  efficiency. 

Now  mechanical  transport  in  a little  more  detail:  The  obtaining 
of  our  requirements  on  mobilization  was  done  by  a system  of  regis- 
tration of  private  vehicles  throughout  the  country.  The  mainte- 
nance of  the  supply  forms  a branch  of  munitions. 

The  training  of  personnel,  officers,  is  carried  out  in  England  at  a 
school  at  Grove  Park  in  London  and  in  France  at  another  school  at 
St.  Omer;  but  all  officers  and  men  are  recruited  with  a certain  basic 
knowledge  of  mechanical  transport.  Some  are  recruited  for  work- 
shop duties — those  more  particularly  expert — others  for  road  duties; 
that  is  for  administration,  discipline,  road  control,  and  details  of 
that  sort.  There  is  one  base  depot  for  the  mechanical  transport,  at 
Rouen,  and  in  this  are  controlled  the  immense  number  of  spare 
parts  for  the  20  or  25  different  makes  of  lorry,  and  for  the  caterpil- 
lars, tractors,  cars,  and  bicycles. 


19 


On  each  L.  of  C.  there  is  also  an  advanced  M.  T.  depot,  one  on  the 
4 southern  line  and  one  on  the  northern;  these  are  at  Abbeville  and 

Calais,  respectively.  On  these  two  advance  depots  all  demands 
are  made  by  the  front  for  necessary  spare  parts,  and  these  come  up 
* on  the  section  trains  as  they  are  available.  The  indent  shows  the 

nature  of  the  spare  part  required,  the  class  of  vehicle,  and  the  make 
concerned,  also  the  unit  and  formation  and  the  railhead;  thus  it  finds 
its  way  in  the  shortest  possible  time  to  the  unit- concerned.  There  is 
a heavy  M.  T.  repair  shop  at  Paris  and  another  at  St.  Omer,  and  to 
these  are  sent  all  lorries,  etc.,  requiring  such  repairs  as  can  not  be 
carried  out  by  the  workshops  in  the  field. 

There  is  a central  pool  of  lorries,  cars,  and  motor  bicycles,  which  is 
kept  on  the  line  of  communications  and  the  control  over  which  is 
absolutely  maintained  in  the  hands  of  the  Director  of  Transport  at 
General  Headquarters.  A vehicle  of  whatever  class  can  only  be 
drawn  from  this  pool  on  the  authority  of  the  Director  of  Transport,  and 
there  are  only  two  possibilities  whereby  such  authority  can  be  ob- 
tained. The  one  is  to  form  a replacement — that  is,  to  replace  a vehicle 
sent  to  the  base  for  heavy  repairs — and  the  other  in  the  case  of  an 
increase  in  establishment  authorized  by  the  Quartermaster  General. 
The  Quartermaster  General  will  authorize  such  an  increase  in  estab- 
lishment only  under  the  greatest  pressure;  it  sometimes  requires  the 
personal  representation  of  an  army  commander  to  obtain  the  same. 
The  percentage  of  spares  required  both  in  spare  parts  and  in  this  pool 
of  lorries,  cars,  and  motor  bicycles,  you  will  be  well  aware  of  by  your 
4 experience  gained  in  your  various  expeditions  and  wars;  but  it  is 

probable  that  you  would  have  to  increase  your  estimate  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  although  you  are  accustomed  to  travel  very  much  greater 
distances  than  you  will  have  to  cover  in  France,  yet  the  number  of 
hours  a day,  the  weight  of  stores  of  all  kinds  carried,  and  the  some- 
times villanous  condition  of  the  roads  must  be,  I imagine,  much 
worse  than  any  in  your  experience.  - 

The  strain  on  the  mechanical  transport  is  very  severe  and  replace- 
ments are  hard  to  obtain  for  a variety  of  reasons.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  much  of  this  transport  has  been  running  for  nearly  three 
years.  The  mechanical  transport  must  naturally  deteriorate,  so  that 
this  transport  pool  on  the  line  of  communications  is  an  item  of  the 
utmost  importance.  As  establishments  are  increased,  if  ever,  and 
as  new  units  and  formations  arrive,  this  pool  must  be  correspondingly 
increased,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  casualties  are  ever  on  the  in- 
crease and  the  total  wear  and  tear  will  eventually  necessitate  replace- 
ment of  the  whole  original  establishment. 


20 


At  the  front  the  types  of  mechanical  transport  units  comprise  a 
corps  supply  column,  a corps  ammunition  park  (each  contain  so 
many  divisional  supply  columns  and  divisional  ammunition  parks, 
called  subparks),  a General  Headquarters  ammunition  park,  motor 
ambulance  convoys,  auxiliary  motor  transport  company,  heavy 
mobile  repair  units,  and  others.  The  supply  column  carries  sup- 
plies from  the  railhead  to  the  refilling  points  where  it  hands  over  to 
the  divisional  supply  train.  The  subparks  perform  a similar  duty 
for  ammunition  and  hand  over  to  the  divisional  ammunition  column ; 
but  the  exigencies  of  war  very  often  demand  that  we  should  use  this 
transport  for  engineer  services,  etc.  The  G.  H.  Q.  park  is  an  ammu- 
nition park  of  some  140  lorries.  It  is  an  old-time  organization  of  this 
war  and  is  now  really  of  little  use.  It  is  kept  away  back  by  Army 
Headquarters  and  can  not  be  touched  without  the  authority  of  the 
Quartermaster  General.  It  was  originally  intended,  in  the  days 
when  we  had  a daily  allowance  of  some  10  rounds  per  field  gun,  to 
reinforce  any  particular  point. 

The  siege  park  is  an  interesting  organization,  the  establishment 
of  which  concerns  only  the  headquarters,  some  26  lorries;  but  it  is 
the  nucleus  of  all  the  heavy  artillery  of  a corps.  When  I left  the 
first  army  the  Canadian  corps  siege  park  had  over  a thousand  lorries. 

Now,  I must  tell  you  how  this  occurs.  Heavy  batteries  of  what- 
ever caliber,  from  6-inch  howitzer,  4.7  inches,  and  60-pounders 
upward,  have  certain  mechanical  transport  attached  to  them  which 
forms  an  ammunition  column.  These  batteries  come  in  from  all 
points  of  the  compass  to  prepare  for  a general  attack  on  some  part 
of  the  line,  e.  g.,  Arras,  and  as  they  come  these  lorries  are  all  flung 
into  this  rapidly  expanding  unit  entitled  the  siege  park;  so  when 
you  get  many  batteries  you  will  have  as  many  as  a thousand  lorries, 
as  was  the  case  the  other  day.  The  heavier  batteries  have  no  horse 
transport  attached  to  them,  and  when  the  situation  is  such  that 
ammunition  can  not  be  got  by  mechanical  transport  to  the  guns, 
the  divisional  ammunition  columns  and  the  gun  teams  themselves 
of  field  artillery  and  60-pounder  heavy  artillery  horse-drawn  guns 
are  called  upon  to  take  the  ammunition  from  where  the  mechanical 
transport  is  halted  to  the  guns  themselves.  If  that  be  not  possible, 
the  remaining  distance  to  the  guns  must  be  done  by  hand. 

Motor  ambulance  convoys  you  know  about— you  have  sent  many 
to  France.  Auxiliary  M.  T.  companies,  they  are  in  reserve  at  the 
disposal  of  the  I).  A.  D.  T. — Deputy  Assistant  Director  of  Transport — ■ 
of  the  army  concerned.  The  heavy  mobile  repair  unit  carries  out, 
as  its  name  implies,  some  of  the  repairs  which  can  not  be  done  by 


21 


the  ordinary  workshops  on  the  establishment  of  the  transport  units 
* referred  to  above.  There  are  also  many  other  units  of  less  impor- 

tance which  are  hardly  worth  mentioning  in  a general  lecture.  The 
officers  commanding  all  these  mechanical  transport  units,  as  also 
\ the  horse  transport  units,  have  always  access  by  telephone  or  car  to 

the  D.  A.  D.  T.  of  the  army.  He  is  their  special  head.  The  D.  D. 
S.  and  T.  is,  of  course,  the  head  of  the  Army  Service  Corps  in  any 
army,  but  he  is  concerned  more  with  questions  of  policy,  attending 
conferences,  and  carrying  out  the  necessary  inspections  throughout 
the  army,  so  that  the  details  of  administration  are  of  necessity  left 
to  the  Deputy  Assistant  Director  of  Supply  or  Transport,  as  the  case 
may  be. 

There  is  very  urgent  need  for  constant  inspection  and  overhauling 
of  cars  and  lorries;  we  have  found  it  pay  very  well  to  insist  on  a 
time-table  of  inspection,  that  is  to  say,  that  cars,  and  when  possible 
lorries,  too,  should  be  laid  up  for,  say  , one  day  a fortnight  for  inspec- 
tion, regardless  of  the  fact  of  whether  they  appear  to  need  it.  This 
is,  of  course,  very  often  not  possible;  at  the  same  time  it  is  highly 
desirable. 

HORSE  TRANSPORT. 

The  same  directorate  as  for  mechanical  transport.  The  base  horse 
$ transport  depot  consists  of  personnel  only.  The  advanced  horse 

transport  depot  is  at  Abbeville  and  consists  of  so  many  horses,  vehi- 
cles, and  harness  sufficient  to  answer  demands  for  complete  “turns- 
^ out  ” by  units  at  the  front.  It  has  a Royal  artillery  and  a Royal  engi- 

neer section  in  it.  At  the  front  the  most  important  unit  is  the 
divisional  train  which  we  referred  to  before  and  which  is  made  up 
of  all  the  horse  transport  allotted  to  a division  for  baggage  and  sup- 
plies. It  consists  of  four  A.  S.  C.  horse  transport  companies — one 
for  divisional  troops  and  one  for  each  brigade — the  whole  commanded 
by  a lieutenant  colonel.  There  are  auxiliary  horse  transport  com- 
panies similarly  as  there  are  auxiliary  M . T.  companies.  Then  there 
is  the  divisional  ammunition  column  (which  is  even  stronger  in 
numbers  than  the  train),  reserve  park,  and  a number  of  lesser  H.  T. 
units.  A reserve  park  is  rather  analagous  to  a G.  H . Q.  ammunition 
park,  but  more  useful.  It  carries  one  day’s  iron  rations  and  oats  for 
the  corps  of  three  divisions  to  which  it  belongs,  which  is  the  normal 
strength  of  a corps.  The  functions  of  these  units  you  are  already 
sufficiently  acquainted  with,  but  I will  be  glad  to  answer  any 
questions  later. 

i The  strain  on  the  horse  transport  in  the  case  of  an  advance  is  yet 

greater  than  that  on  M.  T.  That  is  the  case  because  it  falls  to  the 


horse  transport  to  carry  most  of  the  material  required  to  make  the 
roads  which  have  been  destroyed  by  bombardment  or  by  demoli- 
tion, and  this  in  addition  to  carrying  out  the  ordinary  duties  of 
horse  transport  on  supply  and  ammunition  services. 

Of  Pack  Transport  you  have  in  point  of  fact  very  much  more 
experience  than  we  have  or  ever  are  likely  to  have.  When  the 
line  advances,  there  is  a shell  swept  area  of  some  three  or  four  miles 
in  which  the  roads  have  been  utterly  destroyed  and  behind  that 
again  is  a considerable  stretch  which  has  been  demolished  by  the 
enemy  in  the  course  of  his  retirement;  until  these  roads  can  be 
reconstructed  or  until  light  railways  are  put  through  or  other  facili- 
ties for  transportation  can  be  rebuilt,  pack  transport  has  to  be  sub- 
stituted and  we  have  found  it  necessary  to  improvise  various  different 
forms  of  pack  saddle — details  of  which  could  be  explained  to  you 
by  Col.  Heron. 

The  Remount  Branch  is  under  the  Quartermaster  General  with  us 
as  with  you,  and  has  its  base  depots  and  advanced  depots  similarly. 

The  Pay  Branch  of  the  Quartermaster  General’s  Office  with  you  is 
with  us  a separate  organization;  the  headquarters  and  the  main 
functions  are  performed  at  the  base.  In  this  instance,  the  word 
“base”  signifies  the  third  echelon  of  General  Headquarters.  We 
have  field  cashiers,  one  with  each  corps,  who  draw  cash  from  the 
local  French  banks  and  at  suitable  times  and  places  issue  money 
to  the  several  officers  at  the  front  who  are  entitled  to  hold  imprest 
accounts  for  payment  of  troops,  local  purchase,  etc. 

Gen.  Sharpe  has  asked  me  to  again  refer  to  the  divisional  train. 
It  was  necessary  to  establish  direct  A.  S.  C.  control  over  all  the 
transport  in  the  division  other  than  first-line  transport.  This 
insures  the  transport  being  maintained  in  an  efficient  state,  it  is 
centralized  and  therefore  more  mobile,  and  it  can  be  administered 
as  a whole  so  very  much  better  than  it  could  if  it  were  split  up 
among  the  units.  Virtually  the  S.  and  T.  directorate  deal  direct 
with  the  0.  C.  and  S.  S.  O.  of  the  divisional  trains  on  all  matters 
pertaining  to  supply  and  transport  services.  It  appears,  however, 
that  the  divisional  quartermaster  in  your  organization  corresponds 
almost  in  toto  to  the  officer  commanding  the  divisional  train  in  a 
British  division  as  far  as  S.  and  T.  duties  are  concerned;  such  being 
the  case  he  will  be  able  to  concentrate  the  transport  and  so  exercise 
the  same  control. 

Gen.  Sharpe.  In  our  Army,  Colonel,  we  have  what  is  known  as 
the  commander  of  the  train.  He  is  not  necessarily  a quartermaster 
officer;  he  may  be  a line  officer.  He  has  charge  of  our  regimental 
train. 


Col.  Puckle.  The  'main  thing,  gentlemen,  is  that  it  would  be 
quite  out  of  the  question  in  warfare  such  as  we  now  experience  to 
have  transport  of  any  dimensions  near  the  front  line;  if  you  have  it 
far  back  from  the  line,  far  back  from  the  troops  to  whom  it  belongs, 
such  troops  would  naturally  lose  control  of  it,  and  therefore  we  take 
from  the  unit  all  transport  allotted  for  baggage  and  supplies.  If 
you  will  look  up  the  war  establishment  of  the  British  Army,  you 
will  find  that  the  transport  allowed  for  these  services  is  shown  in 
each  case  as  being  with  the  train.  In  the  case  of  divisional  units 
who  do  not  belong  to  any  particular  brigade,  you  will  find  their 
transport  in  the  headquarter  company  or  “divisional  troops”  com- 
pany of  the  train. 

Gen.  Sharpe.  Is  not  that  very  similar  to  the  establishment  of 
the  French  train? 

Col.  Puckle.  Oh,  yes;  we  took  it  from  them. 

Gen.  Sharpe.  Gentlemen,  I am  sure  that  we  are  very  much 
indebted  to  Col.  Puckle  for  his  interesting  and  very  instructive 
account  of  the  method  of  operating  that  great  problem,  and  solving 
it  too;  that  is  the  best  of  it.  It  is  the  solution  which  is  more  inter- 
esting than  the  problem  itself — the  knowing  how  the  problem  is 
and  can  be  solved.  And  I am  sure  that  we  are  going  to  be  able  to 
draw  some  very  useful  points  from  his  very  lucid  presentation  of 
this  subject. 

Thank  you  very  much,  gentlemen. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  S.  AND  T.  BRANCH  OF  Q.  M.  G.  SERVICES  IN  FRANCE,  MAY,  1917. 


25 


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26 


REMARKS. 

D.  of  S.  and  T. — Director  of  supplies  and  transport. 

D.  D.  S.  and  T.— Deputy  director  of  supplies  and  transport.  It  follows  that  A= 
assistant  and  D.  A.=deputy  assistant.  The  present  deputy  .Q.  M.  G.  is  an  army 
service  corps  officer. 

S.  M.  T.  O.— Senior  mechanical  transport  officer.  He  is  the  officer  at  corps  head- 
quarters who  coordinates  M.  T. 

H.  T.— Horse  transport.  The  O.  C.  train  is  the  senior  horse  transport  officer  of 
a division. 

S.  S.  O.— Senior  supply  officer  of  a division. 

B.  S.  O. — Brigade  supply  officer. 

Adv. — Advanced. 

W.  O. — War  office. 

L.  of  C. — Line  of  communications. 

N. — Northern  L.  of  C. 

S.— Southern  L.  of  C. 

It.  S.  O. — Railhead  supply  officer. 


COURSE  OF  RATIONS,  FORAGE,  FUEL  AND  LIGHT,  HOSPI- 
TAL COMFORTS,  PETROL  |;AND  OILS,  DISINFECTANTS. 

ALSO  ANY  COLLATERAL  ITEMS,  E.  G.,  MAILS,  CLOTHING,  MECHANICAL 
TRANSPORT,  SPARE  PARTS,  ETC.,*  FROM  THE  BASE  TO  THE  TROOPS. 

N.  B. — The  word  ‘‘truck”  signifies  a railway  freight  car— usually 

closed  and  carrying  10  tons. 

Date:  Starting,  say,  on  the  1st  of  the  month. 

1.  Demand  arrives  by  wire  at  the  base  supply  depot  in  the 

afternoon  from  the  directorate  with  the  Army 

2.  Requirements  of  bread,  frozen  meat,  forage,  petrol,  oils, 

and  disinfectants  are  loaded  according  to  demand  and 
dispatched  to  the  advanced  base;  also  the  usual  bulk 
train  of  preserved  meat,  biscuit,  all  classes  of  groceries, 
hospital  comforts,  etc.,  necessary  to  maintain  the 
authorized  reserve  at  the  advanced  base 

3.  The  necessary  adjustment  of  the  loadings  of  the  trucks 

in  the  bulk  train  referred  to  above  is  made  at  the 
advanced  base  so  as  to  obtain  the  exact  requirements  of 
the  divisions  and  at  the  same  time  always  to  completely 
fill  the  trucks.  The  trucks  are  then  labeled  with  the 
various  section  numbers  and  handed  over  to  transporta- 
tion, who  sort  them  out  into  complete  section  trains  at 
the  regulating  station  and  add  any  of  the  extraneous 
trucks  referred  to  above  * 


1st  inst. 


2d  inst. 


2d  inst. 


27 


4.  Section  train  arrives  at  railhead.  Waybills  accompany 
the  train  showing  how  it  is  packed,  and  the  railhead 
supply  officer  is  able  to  immediately  translate  the 
demands  which  he  has  received  from  troops  (which  are 
% in  numbers  of  rations)  into  their  actual  requirements  in 

poundage  of  supplies.  The  supply  column  (M.  T.) 
having  returned  empty  that  morning  from  refilling 
point  clears  the  section  train,  which  returns  to  the  base 
forthwith.  Only  “empties”  are  returned  to  the  base 
by  section  trains,  e.  g.,  evacuated  vehicles,  salvaged 
ordnance  stores  and  equipment,  petrol  tins  and  sacks. 
The  supply  column  proceeds  to  its  billet  area  and  halts, 


loaded,  for  the  night 3d  inst. 

5.  Early  morning,  supply  column  proceeds  to  refilling 

point  and  hands  over  supplies  to  the  divisional  train 
(H.  T.),  who  take  it  on  same  day  and  hand  over  to  bat- 
talion quartermaster’s  stores  and  cookers 4th  inst. 

6.  Rations  are  consumed 5th  inst. 


% 


NOTES  ON  THE  METHODS  OF  SUPPLY  OF  TROOPS  OF 
THE  BRITISH  ZONE  IN  FRANCE. 

With  reference  to  any  prospective  American  expedition  to  be  sent 
to  the  British  zone  in  France,  no  difficulty  would  be  experienced 
by  the  British  supply  directorate  in  handling  any  forces,  as  long  as 
they  have  due  notice  with  reference  to  the  subsistence  situation, 
with  which  we  are  dealing  and  with  which  the  British  supply  direc- 
torate is  alone  concerned.  Of  course,  the  arrangements  for  rationing 
the  troops  while  en  route  on  the  transports  and  say,  to  prevent  any 
suffering,  for  three  days  after  landing,  should  be  taken  care  of  by 
the  authorities  on  this  side.  The  adjustment  of  charges  due  to  the 
supply  of  the  American  expeditionary  force  in  France  by  the  British 
would  be  a matter  for  adjustment  between  the  respective  govern- 
ments after  the  war. 

The  procedure  in  the  field  is  very  simple,  and  merely  consists  of 
ration  indents,  corresponding  to  the  American  ration  return  or  forage 
requisition,  being  submitted  daily  when  rations  are  drawn  and  being 
indorsed  “American”  or  “French”  or  “Belgian,”  as  the  case  may 
be,  in  red  ink  at  the  head  of  the  indent.  These  indents  are  col- 
lected and  sent  to  the  base  and  filed  for  future  accounting  and 
adjustment. 


28 


The  English  and  the  American  ration  is  practically  identical  in  all 
essentials.  The  components  of  these  rations  vary  slightly — with  the 
balance  in  favor  of  the  English  ration.  For  example,  the  regular 
issue  ration  to  the  English  soldier  includes  2 ounces  of  tobacco  per 
man  per  week,  and  the  amount  of  condensed  milk  issued  as  part  of 
the  ration  is  greater  in  the  English  than  in  the  American  ration. 
The  different  ration  tables  are  shown  herewith  for  comparative  pur- 
poses. It  will  be  noted  that  the  British  iron  ration  is  similar  to  the 
American  reserve  ration,  except  that  tin  meat  (canned  beef)  of  some 
sort  is  used  instead  of  our  bacon.  The  British  ration  has  a com- 
ponent of  tea  instead  of  coffee,  but  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
issuing  coffee  if  due  notice  were  given,  as  coffee  is  issued  in  lieu  of 
tea  as  part  of  the  ordinary  ration  in  the  case  of  French  forces  attached 
for  supply  purposes  to  the  British  Army.  However,  the  tea  com- 
ponent of  the  “iron”  or  “reserve”  ration  could  not  be  changed. 

LOCAL  RESOURCES  IN  FRANCE. 

These  comprise  coal,  coke,  straw,  bran,  fresh  vegetables,  milk 
(condensed  and  fresh),  fresh  fruit,  and  ice.  The  whole  of  the  coal 
and  the  bulk  of  the  straw  requirements  can  be  relied  upon,  but  only 
a limited  supply  of  the  other  items  enumerated  is  available  and  most 
of  this  is  allotted  to  the  hospitals. 

Coal. — Worked  by  the  French  and  distributed  by  road  and  rail 
under  the  direction  of  “the  officer  in  charge  coal  supply”  (a  British 
officer  of  the  Army  Service  Corps).  The  acute  congestion  on  rail 
lines  this  winter  often  necessitated  other  armies  sending  for  their 
coal  supply  by  road,  and  at  one  time  the  congestion  was  so  acute  that 
even  Paris  had  to  send  out  by  road  to  the  coal  districts,  a distance 
of  perhaps  150  miles. 

Straw  is  used  both  for  forage,  to  make  up  the  difference  between 
that  which  comes  from  the  base  and  that  to  which  troops  are  en- 
titled, and  for  use  in  billets.  The  allowance  of  straw  for  billeting 
is  4 pounds  per  man  per  week  in  the  winter  months.  The  allow- 
ance is  abolished  during  the  summer  except  in  exceptional  circum- 
stances. 

This  straw,  together  with  certain  substitutes,  e.  g.,  linseed  cake, 
mealia  meal  cake,  beetroot,  are  all  purchased  and  handled  by  an 
organization  in  each  army  called  the  purchase  board.  This  board 
administers  a number  of  baling  and  threshing  machines  and,  with 
the  assistance  of  labor  and  transport  allotted  as  necessary,  will 
accumulate  a reserve  of,  say,  3,000  tons  of  baled  straw  in  each  army 
area  if  local  resources  permit.  This  in  addition  to  current  activity 
in  purchasing  the  above-mentioned  substitutes. 


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Fresh  fruit  and  fresh  vegetables,  particularly  the  former,  are 
' obtained  by  a purchase  board  in  Paris  and  sent  in  bulk  to  armies 

and  to  bases  for  distributuon  to  troops  and  hospitals.  French- 
speaking  officers  comprise  the  board,  and  they  also  have  French  in- 
> terpreters  at  their  disposal. 

Small  local  contracts  exist  for  condensed  and  fresh  milk. 

No  ice  can  be  supplied  to  troops  in  France,  except,  of  course,  for 
the  hospitals  and  sick.  However,  this  will  hardly  be  necessary,  as 
the  climate  is  such  the  year  around  that  ice  is  not  necessary.  It  has 
never  been  issued  to  the  French  or  British  troops  in  France,  and  the 
absence  of  ice  has  caused  no  suffering  whatever. 

Bread. — Large  bakeries  exist  at  each  base.  The  bread  is  packed 
in  sacks,  80  rations  to  each  sack,  and  sent  up  by  the  supply  railway 
trains  (called  “section”  trains)  daily.  The  ration  is  1 pound.  The 
proportion  of  bread  in  loaves  is  75  per  cent,  the  remaining  25  per  cent 
biscuits,  which  correspond  to  the  American  cracker  or  hard  bread. 
The  organization  of  these  bakeries  is  in  units  of  100  men,  called 
bakery  sections.  The  ovens  used  are  of  the  traveling  steam-heated 
variety,  coal  being  used.  The  old  patent  field  ovens  which  could 
be  carried  about  in  sections  and  with  which  wood  was  used  were 
found  to  be  extravagant  in  room  and  not  efficient  when  feeding 
armies  on  a large  scale.  The  old  bakery  equipment  of  the  field  ovens 

* (similar,  possibly,  to  the  American  “knockdown  trough,”  etc.)  is 
still  used.  Twelve  of  these  ovens  turn  out  sufficient  bread  daily  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  some  30,000  men.  When  the  expeditionary 

* force  is  sent  to  France,  it  might  well  be  of  advantage  to  include,  say, 
a bakery  company  as  organized  in  this  country  with  each  division, 
together  with  their  equipment. 

FIELD  KITCHENS,  COMPANY  STRENGTH. 

When  we  met  yesterday  the  question  of  field  kitchens  was  dis- 
cussed, and  Col.  Puckle  observed  that  the  best  size  of  kitchen  was 
one  that  would  supply  a company  of  250  men.  The  particular 
brand  of  field  kitchen  is  not  of  importance  and  would,  no  doubt,  be 
decided  by  a process  of  elimination  as  the  various  types  are  tested 
prior  to  the  sailing  of  the  expeditionary  force.  It  should  however 
have  the  following  qualifications: 

(а)  Capacity  250  men. 

(б)  Cooking  on  the  move  as  well  as  at  the  halt. 

(c)  Not  more  than  two  horses  required  to  draw. 

The  capacity  of  the  field  kitchen  was  rated  as  250  men,  as  that  is 
a the  approximate  strength  of  the  company  as  organized  in  both  the 


30 


French  and  British  armies,  it  having  been  found  that  the  old  com- 
pany strength  of  roughly  120  men  was  quite  unsuitable  to  carry  on 
war  as  now  experienced  in  Europe. 

The  chief  reason  for  the  doubling  of  the  original  strength  of  a com- 
pany in  the  British  and  French  armies  was  that  the  supports  and 
reserves  necessary  in  modern  war  would  so  weaken  the  strength 
actually  in  the  firing  line  as  to  render  the  unit  (company)  of  little 
value.  This  point  should  be  discussed  with  the  general  staff  officers 
attached  to  the  British  commission  to  obtain  their  opinion  in  cor- 
roboration. 

HOSPITAL  SUPPLIES. 

It  seems  that  the  system  of  supply  of  hospital  comforts  and  extras 
is  similar  in  the  British  and  American  Armies.  In  the  British 
Army  the  hospital  has  an  imprest  account  from  which  it  purchases 
any  requirements  or  necessities,  such  as  eggs,  fowls,  etc.,  which  are 
not  obtainable  from  the  field  supply  depots  and  railheads.  The 
bulk  of  the  requirements  of  hospitals,  such  as  wines,  spirits,  and  the 
101  extras  necessary  are  obtained  from  field  supply  depots  estab- 
lished at  the  front  and  which  are  in  turn  supplied  from  the  base. 

SALES  ARTICLES. 

There  exists  in  the  British  Army  an  organization  called  the 
“expeditionary  force  canteens.”  This  organization  has  depots 
at  the  bases,  is  allotted  the  necessary  transportation  both  by  rail 
and  road,  and  so  supplies  all  the  many  branches  throughout  the 
country.  Many  of  these  branches  are  within  a mile  or  two  of  the 
front  line  trenches.  These  sales  articles  are  purchased  by  the  troops 
for  cash  and  are  entirely  additional  to  and  separate  from  the  field 
ration.  The  whole  organization  is  semiofficial,  in  that  the  accounts 
are  audited  by  the  war  office  and  any  profits  allotted  to  various 
military  charities.  The  list  of  articles  stored  in  these  depots  is  very 
similar  to  those  of  the  American  Army  carried  as  sales  articles  in  the 
subsistence  branch,  with  the  addition  of  liquor,  this  can  only  be 
obtained  on  the  signature  of  an  officer. 

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